


Dichotomy

by demetyr



Category: Transformers (Bay Movies)
Genre: Gen, Optimus Prime considers the dichotomy that is humanity, Optimus Prime is the Thinking Man, Other, but mostly humans are confusing, contemplating -cides, humans are also pretty sweet, humans are vicious little beasts, internal character reflections, philosophical thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-01
Updated: 2015-04-01
Packaged: 2018-03-20 18:57:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3661323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/demetyr/pseuds/demetyr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Optimus thinks about humans, humanity, and the incredible opposites contained within such small bodies.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dichotomy

**Author's Note:**

> Did you know that there are over 200 hundred words in the English language that end with the suffix - _cide_? More than _two hundred words_ about killing things! That's a lot of death, and yet, it's also a lot of life. You can only kill something if it _is currently existing_.
> 
> Do you now see what I mean when Optimus goes on about humans being an oxymoronic species made up of dichotomies? We're _weird_ and _terrifying_ , y'all.

   

( _fic art by[LadyKnightSkye](http://ladyknightskye.deviantart.com/) of deviantArt.com_ )

* * *

**Dichotomy**

* * *

 

 

Sometimes, humans terrify Optimus.

It makes no sense, to be so affected by small organic beings that could fit in the palm of his hand, and yet he was. These tiny, fragile creatures create a low thrum of near constant apprehension in the Prime.

They are so small, so soft, so… _fragile_. The gentlest of bumps leaves rainbow hued bruises littering their skin, and their own _bodies_ occasionally turn against them what with their delicate organic systems. ‘Milk makes strong bones.’ Optimus knows he’s heard this phrase before, and he wonders at how it can be said when he also knows just how easily those same ‘strong bones’ can break and shatter into pieces.

He also knows that the very organs that keep a human alive can fail for seemingly no reason at all, other than that it ‘was time’ or that it had ‘worn out’ or some other phrase human physicians use. It terrifies Optimus that humans are so vulnerable to every thing, that even their own _emotions_ can kill them. ‘You scared me to death!’ He’s heard that phrase before – and heard of cases where people have died from fear alone. Or Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy – Broken Heart Syndrome. The idea that a human might die from such a thing boggles Optimus’ processors, and yet the truth remains that it _does_ happen.

Humans are so vulnerable. And so _young_. They are such a new species, only recently gaining their sentience; they’re still growing, still evolving and learning. So many things can take advantage of them; harm them.

Including themselves.

Humans, despite their relative youth as a species and their current inability to travel and communicate with other worlds and species’, are at the same time fairly formidable. Their creative and brilliant minds, full of such wonders, are also full of deep horrors so that Optimus is occasionally at a loss attempting to reconcile these vicious killers with the gentle and compassionate people he knows exist. Such kind people, and yet… so many forms of death. So many _words_ for death.

Sororicide – to kill one’s sister. Fratricide – to kill one’s brother. Matricide – to kill one’s mother. Patricide – to kill one’s father.

And the list goes on; there are words for killing animals, for killing insects, plants, other people; for killing kings and gods and monsters. There are even words to denote the destruction of knowledge, of words and laws and cultures and liberty; there is even a word for the destruction of _faith_.

Omnicide – destruction of everything.

How can such a young race have such words? It terrifies Optimus to think that such a young race has such violence in its history; to think that such violence may be its future.

And yet, the fact that they have such words of destruction means that there must be something to destroy in the first place – to kill something, it must first live.

Optimus supposes that it must be some natural dichotomy, an internal opposition in human nature that so clearly shows the struggle of all things, of the inherent, well, divinity, he muses, versus the equally inherent evil that exists in everything that is, everything that was.

Because while humans have so many words for death and destruction, they also have words for things that no Cybertronian – Autobot and Decepticon alike – have ever had.

The idea of saint. Of angels. Of a loving and self-sacrificing God.

 _Saint_ – an individual of exceptional holiness. Or, as Optimus has come to discover, a person who is genuinely kind, gentle, and compassionate. Someone who goes out of their way to help others and serve the human race.

 _Angel_ – messengers of God, as well as humanity’s protectors. Or, people willing to fight for what they believe in and to protect the world and the people around them.

 _God_ – an omnipotent being of unconditional love for His children, who allowed his Son to be sacrificed to save humanity.

Optimus has long been fascinated by human religions and the various interpretations, and the idea of the trinity and the resurrection had long held his interest. That any being, divine or mortal, could allow such a thing… Father or Son, to die for an entire race of beings; to _become_ one of them?

The power of humanity’s faith in such a belief sometimes makes Optimus feel tiny. Oh, Autobots have their own ‘religion’, if you could call it that. All Cybertronians know that the Allspark granted life through the Well of All Sparks, but… the Allspark has never been actively involved in the lives of Cybertronians. Not like the human God and His Son.

And while there is no human ever called God, Optimus notes, His very theological existence – as well as the existence of his own oppositional rival – proves to Optimus that there truly is something wonderful about humans.

It is this unconscious self-awareness (oh, the irony of those words) that terrifies Optimus. How can an entire species be so blithely oblivious to the fact that they embody, in all ways, the eternal dichotomy?

Yet as much as that thought terrifies the Autobot leader, it also comforts him. That any species could so honestly live out the universal oppositions…

Well, Optimus has always wondered what a dichotomy truly looks like.

**Author's Note:**

> LadyKnightSkye of DeviantArt drew the art for the fic! Can be found here: http://ladyknightskye.deviantart.com/art/Contemplating-Dichotomy-170812621?q=sort%3Atime+gallery%3Aladyknightskye&qo=0


End file.
